


The Moneylender's wife

by wefewwehappyfew



Category: Merchant of Venice - Shakespeare, SHAKESPEARE William - Works
Genre: Antonio shall appear later, Au where Leah lives, F/M, Leah shall save the day, Strongly based on Trevor Nunn's staging of the play, emotional retrospective, one of the shakespeare couples that intrigues me the most, so you get a 1920s setting, the others shall appear even later, with my meagre attempts at Early Modern English speech
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-09
Updated: 2016-12-09
Packaged: 2018-09-07 11:12:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8798641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wefewwehappyfew/pseuds/wefewwehappyfew
Summary: (Au based on Trevor Nunn's staging of the play) Leah receives news about Shylock's failed business with Antonio and must return to Venice before the trial takes place.





	

_**The return, Part I** _

One year, three months, two weeks, four days, one hour and twenty five minutes.

This was the exact measure of time since Leah had crossed the threshold of her family home in Venice, (never to return, or so she thought), until her nephew Rodrigo called for her in the family house of Pisa where she took refuge.

"Aunt Leah, 'tis Jessica on the phone." he explained as she arrived to the living room. "She beseeches thy help."

If it had been Shylock, she might have given thought to either answer or not, but being Jessica the one on the other side, Leah quickly took the phone from her nephew's hands and answered.

"Jessica?" she asked, trying to even her heartbeat. If her little one was requesting her help, something truly awful had to have happened.

"Mama? I have grave news." Jessica said on the phone. "Father is to go to trial for some business he had with Signior Antonio."

"Some business?" Leah asked, worried

_Oh, Shylock, oh what hast thou done._

She was certainly sure that Rodrigo saw her expression, because the next thing he did was bring her a seat while she listened to Jessica explain what she knew of the whole matter. And truly, she was grateful for that seat because she felt as if she was about to faint.

How come Shylock had come out of his senses in such an outrageous fashion? First of all, he should have never considered business with that man, as lucrative as it might have been. Antonio had nothing but contempt for him and those of their kind.

Yet he did it, and now he was about to reclaim a pound of flesh from Antonio? As much as she loathed the man with every fibre of her being, Leah knew this could not have a good outcome for Shylock in any way.

So she had to stop him from this monstrous enterprise. She had to go back to Venice.

"Dost not speak a word of this to thy father, but I shalt make all arrangements for my return, in two days most." She explained. "Until then, my little one, take care, for I am afraid things could turn more difficult thanks to thy father's recklessness."

"Y-yes, mama." Jessica said, her tone shaking a little, which Leah thought was for all what Shylock had done "I shalt follow thine advice most thoroughly."

"My sweet child," Leah replied, unable to contain her emotion. "I promise I shalt see thee soon."

And with that, she hung the phone. After taking the deepest breath she could, she looked at her nephew and spoke.

"When couldst thou ensure that thy car is ready, Rodrigo?"

She saw his eyes widen in reaction to her question.

"Aunt, surely thou dost not pretend to travel to Venice..." he was worried for her. "Uncle Shylock..."

"I do not no this for him." she explained, even if part of her did not truly believe she didn't want to help him. She did love him after all. "But for thy cousin."

She could not let Shylock squander Jessica's future because of a petty revenge. If that meant returning to Venice, then so be it.

Taking a deep breath, she stood up.

"And I shalt do this, with or without thy help."

At his undecided expression, she made her way to the door, but he spoke before she could open it.

"If we are to go, the train is most certainly a better option."

Turning, she looked at him with surprise, but also hope.

"How so?"

"Thou dost know that I take the train to Florence quite often." Rodrigo explained "From there, we could take another train to Venice and be there tomorrow in the afternoon."

Leah could not help a smile, and returned to embrace her nephew.

"I thank thee, good nephew." She managed to say, even if she was sure he would never understand the extent of her thankfulness.

After the embrace ended, there was a momentary silence that Rodrigo broke with a question.

"Shalt I go get the tickets, then?"

Leah nodded "I shalt prepare the suitcases in the meanwhile"

It did not take her long, after all, her stay at Venice would be short. To solve the disaster Shylock had gotten their family into, and then return back to Pisa.

Leah knew she was not to expect a reconciliation of any sort. Shylock could hold a grudge for a long time (But then, so could she. And with more reason, since she had been the aggrieved part in this whole matter.), and not even solving this new matter would soothe it, but still, she had to do this.

Folding the clothes and making sure everything fit perfectly in each suitcase and she did not miss anything, Leah went downstairs, and sat on the wooden chair of the hall. She truly did not want to make Rodrigo wait, even if there was this little hook at her heart that made her not want to leave. After all, this had been her home for the last year, where she had managed to shut down the memories of Venice (all of them, good and bad), and find a sort of peace.

But she had to do this.

Rodrigo came back with the tickets, and they left the house as safe as possible. (Rodrigo knew he counted with the help of his neighbours for that)

The walk towards the station was shrouded in silence, both of them too deep in their thoughts to ever exchange a word more than what was necessary. Leah had found that it was a trait that ran deep in her family, and while this could make them seem pleasant and calm at times, when well used, it could turn each silence and each word into a weapon infused by all His wrath.

And that was what Leah was counting for come the trial.

It was not until they were safe and secure in their seats, that Rodrigo finally spoke.

"Aunt Leah, if tis not too much of a bother, I wouldst like to ask thee a question." he said, the same curiosity in his eyes that she remembered of him as a child.

The same curiosity his father, her brother had. And the same politeness always towards asking.

"Tis never a bother to answer a question from thee, dear nephew." she smiled at him.

Still, he seemed to take the time to find the words precise enough to make the question he wanted to.

"How didst thou meet Uncle Shylock? How didst thou two marry?" he asked "Thou hast never told me of thy time with him."

Her reaction to his question was softer than what she imagined. Perhaps this was the best time to ask, after all.

"Ah, but nephew, 'tis a very long story..."

**Author's Note:**

> \- Yes, Leah barely gets a mention on the play, but man, what a mention. And how heartbreaking is Henry Goodman's delivery of those lines (which might have been one of the reasons I decided to set it in the universe of this version)  
> \- I apologise for the terrible terrible use of Early Modern English, but I wanted to try my hand at it. If it is as terrible as I imagine, I might consider changing the speech to the current version of the language.


End file.
